Becoming a jw actually made me a much more worldly person.

One of the elders I really looked up to was a used car dealer. His son and I watched a brother trade in his GTO ,1969 , with over 100 k miles on it for a better car to serve jehovah with. It turned up later painted and on the front row with just 50 k on the clock. Mel,the elder, was a one man dealership. His son and I were playing out back of their house and found a big pile of dash parts with odometers. This holy servant was just a common crook. His son was terrified and made me promise I wouldn't tell anyone. Lesson was to succeed in business you have to screw people. It didn't take.

The main deterrent for JW kids was the fear of getting caught. Watch out if they think they can get away with it.

I too lived and saw other youth live a double life. We had no common sense.

When i was attempting to be physically in and raise my children "in" i always viewed most JW kids as "bad association" because i knew they would only show me what they thought i wanted to see, and then sneak around to do what they wanted.

I encouraged outside friendships with their school mates and open communication with me and limited unsupervised association with JW kids- (especially the"spiritually upstanding", good examples and Elders kids.)

Kids have to have other reasons not to do stupid stuff besides fear of punishment and making gods heart sad. Otherwise they will do it if they think they wont get caught and then say a prayer afterwards for forgiveness.

I did more stupid things with JWs than i ever did with my"Worldly"friends.

Sometimes you might get in a situation that makes you uncomfortable, maybe you are at the mercy of a group- stuck with no transportation, being pressured to do something you don't feel comfortable doing-

Always listen to that instinct and do not hesitate to call. I'll come get you. Dont worry about "getting in trouble". I realize sonetimes things can get beyond your control through no fault of your own

I never wanted my kids to feel so afraid of "getting in trouble" with me that they would hesitate to get help.